The first football club Bill Shankly was associated with was a team in Ayrshire called the Glenbuck Cherrypickers which, as Sir Alex Ferguson is fond of explaining to know-nothings from south of the border, had little to do with bucolic fruit-harvesting but was a colliery term for selecting the best bits of coal on a pit-head conveyor.

John Dempster was born in Kettering but his father came to England from Glenbuck, which is why the Mansfield Town defender not only opted to play for Scotland at Under-21 level but also followed his father in adopting Liverpool as his favourite club. So when Dempster scored the opening goal in the second-round replay against Lincoln to help bring Sunday's dream third-round FA Cup tie a step closer, it was a cause for family celebration as well as another layer of romance to add lustre to football's most storied weekend.

"My dad always supported Liverpool so I did too," Dempster explains. "He's from a small Scottish village called Muirkirk which neighbours Glenbuck, the birthplace of Bill Shankly. We knew we would get Liverpool if we won the replay because the draw had already been made. Everyone was buzzing but we still had to get past Lincoln. We managed that – scoring a goal made it extra special for me, and we've been looking forward to the match ever since. My dad comes to every Mansfield home game anyway but he can't wait for this one. Everyone else feels the same way. You don't have to support Liverpool to be excited about the prospect but I can't get the idea of a replay at Anfield out of my head. Unthinkable as that might be, it would be the ultimate dream come true."

Strictly speaking Dempster has seen dreams come true before, though while he was a member of the Crawley Town squad that played at Old Trafford in the fifth round two years ago, he was Cup-tied and could not take part in the game. "The day out at Manchester United was special, something I'll never forget," he says. "But it was a bittersweet moment really, I've had better days playing in the Cup than that. When I was at Kettering we drew Fulham once and then the following season we drew Leeds and took them to a replay at Elland Road."

At 29 Dempster is well on his way to becoming a battle-scarred Cup veteran, so spare a thought for his team-mate Alan Marriott, who in a 16-year professional career, including nine seasons with Lincoln, has yet to feature in a third-round tie. "It's been such a long wait I was beginning to think it would never happen," the 34-year-old goalkeeper says. "I am getting towards the end of my career now and I thought the whole third-round excitement might pass me by but thankfully that hasn't happened. I'm relieved about that. It's an ambition realised for me. But really the Liverpool game is all about the fans. They were great the night we played Lincoln because everyone knew what it meant.

When you play in the Conference you don't get big games coming round very often. This is about as big as you can get and it's great to see the fans smiling again."

They say the third round always throws up stories and the Stags' manager, Paul Cox, has a couple of his own to add to the mix. Not only does the former Notts County and Kettering player celebrate his 41st birthdayon Sunday, the biggest game of his career comes just a couple of days after another match arranged at short notice. Cox promised his long-term partner Natasha they could get married if Mansfield beat Lincoln in the Cup and not only did Natasha take him at his word but she managed to fit the two big days into the same week.

All that remains now is for Liverpool to enter into the spirit of the thing by sending along a recognisable team so that Mansfield folk do not feel short-changed, although Cox feels that whatever side Brendan Rodgers selects will represent a formidable challenge. "Liverpool are a worldwide brand, that's why we are pleased to have them here," the Mansfield manager says. "Their whole squad is filled with quality footballers."

Mansfield's is not, at least not to the same extent, though that is what gives the Cup its special flavour. As the defender Exodus Geohaghon – and what an unimprovable name for a Cup hero that might turn out to be – points out, Liverpool will not be used to cramped dressing rooms and puddles on the pitch. "We need to get under their skin," the Stags' long-throw specialist says. "If they don't fancy it we'll know straight away."